Mining Engineers

Henri Fayol was a French mining engineer, author, mining executive, and director of mines. He is credited with developing a theory of business administration called Fayolism. Along with Frederick Winslow Taylor, Henri Fayol is credited with founding modern management methods.

Richard Trevithick was a British mining engineer and inventor. A pioneer of rail transport and steam-powered vehicles, Trevithick is credited with developing the first working railway steam locomotive and the first high-pressure steam engine. He was a highly respected figure in the fields of engineering and mining during the peak of his career.

Then first Black to have graduated from West Point’s Military Academy, Henry Ossian Flipper was born to slave parents. He also became the first African-American to command US Army troops. He was dismissed unjustly on embezzlement charges and later worked as a civil engineer. His name was cleared posthumously.

John Milne was a British mining engineer and geologist. He is credited with co-founding the Seismological Society of Japan which raised money for the invention of seismographs. John Milne and his team went on to invent the horizontal pendulum seismograph which allowed him to detect various kinds of earthquake waves.

John Blenkinsop was an English inventor and mining engineer. He is credited with inventing steam locomotives and designing the first practical railway locomotive. At a time when inventors were content with locomotives drawing up to four times their weight, Blenkinsop continued working on engines that could draw up to 18 times their weight and eventually succeeded in building better locomotives.

George Reginald Starr was a British Special Operations Executive agent and mining engineer. He is credited with carrying out many sabotage operations in the days leading up to the famous Normandy invasion in June 1944. George Reginald Starr rescued nearly 50 prominent resistance leaders and played an important role in the emancipation of southwestern France from German occupation.

Henry Gannett was an American geographer best remembered for his association with the United States Geological Survey, where he served as the chief geographer from its founding until 1902. Nicknamed the father of mapmaking in America, Henry Gannett is also known as a founding member of the National Geographic Society, where he served as president.

Apart from being a civil engineer and a mining executive who established the Cahaba Coal Mining Co., Truman H. Aldrich was also a paleontologist who had received an honorary doctorate and had served as a museum curator. He was also a US Congress representative from Alabama.

The son of an Irish MP, Sir Richard Griffith, 1st Baronet initially served the Irish Artillery but later devoted himself to mining and geology. Known as the father of Irish geology, he was the first to create a geological map of Ireland and also wrote a land valuation survey of the country.